6 Alabama kids were on life support with flu
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These were otherwise healthy children who came down with a severe strain of seasonal flu. The original link to the local news is included but takes forever to load so that I decided to use a link... Read More

I was surprised to read that the parents of the 15 yr old girl that died last month in Connecticut have posted on one of the flu forums. They are saying that the ID docs in Boston questioned them about any exposure of their daughter to poultry or ducks. Of course, it is true that in CT, where I work and they live, the Canadian geese feed in fields of all kinds, farmer's fields as well as athletic fields. This girl played lacrosse in one of those fields.

I don't think that any of us really believes that we are talking about an avian flu. It seems more likely that some of our seasonal influenzas have picked up some virulent markers, and I don't like to think of where. It certainly is concerning to hear that these docs are asking her parents this kind of question.

I am so sorry for this family. They are still in shock.

May 12, '07

Occupation: SICU Nurse
Joined: May '06; Posts: 120; Likes: 17

It has been a while since I posted on this topic, however--I thought those who follow this topic might be interested in knowing that the little-girl I spoke about has finally been able to leave the hospital-- she came home on April 15th. She still has a trach in place -but it is plugged most of the time- she does use O2 at night. She has been through so much and still has a long way to go.

These essays are emotionally charged, and will be difficult to read for that
reason. With that said, I believe that it is important for parents to be informed in order to make realistic plans to protect their families. The intent
is not to alarm, but rather to provide necessary information. You can not
plan if you do not know what the risks are.

Frightening. Sad. Scary. I am so sorry about these tragic cases like that of the young girl.

Preventable?

Does anyone know?

No, we don't know that it was preventable. No word on whether or not she had been vaxed, and we definitely will not be asking these bereaved people. Right now, emotional support is all that we can offer them.

All we know is that she had an influenza A, subtype unknown. Some believe that since she was treated in three different hospitals in two different states, and the ID docs were asking the right questions, that surely they saved some of her blood, and were in touch with CDC, and that her virus was sequenced. Maybe if we had the information that we are looking for, then we might be able to prevent some otherwise normal kids from getting sick thru mitigation strategies, but we have to know what viral subtype we are dealing with, and that the strategies need to be implemented.

Her parents were online looking for answers for why their very strong, healthy, almost 16 yr old daughter died so unexpectedly from influenza when everything possible had been done for her right from the onset.
I do not have the answers, just more questions.

The parents of the 15 yr old that died in April in CT have posted this link today on a flu forum. They are saying that this is what happened to their daughter. She did have multi organ failure. They are not medical people. I do not know what to think. It is very difficult to read their posts because they are grieving tremendously. They are still seeking information from their daughter's doctors about what happened and why.

From what I understand, this scenario is also consistent with what happened to at least one case in Alabama, but that child survived. At least four of those kids were on ECMO.

They are saying that this flu was an H3, type A influenza, however, they are NOT
saying which H3. Implying that it should be covered by a seasonal flu shot is not
the same thing is saying exactly which virus this is. Will they sequence this virus and make those sequences public? If they did, we might begin to understand why
there was such a rapid progression of symptoms. Twenty four hours from first symptoms to death is unusually severe.

Meanwhile the ability of their healthcare system to cope with the
increased number of patients being seen is of interest. There are
valuable lessons to be learned here with regards to surge capacity and
pandemic flu planning: